Recently, our coaching services regarding new technologies have been utilised more in addition to the classic consulting and development services we offer. The starting point is usually similar:
The customer has heard of new technologies and wants to utilise them. Motivated employees in the company want to familiarize themselves with these technologies and respective philosophies. Thus, a small application as proof-of-concept is being designed and implemented.
The first questions regarding the right use of the new technology arise during the design phase. The first concept usually resembles the approach with old and familiar technologies. Merely a few little highlights showcase the possibilities of the new technologies. Thus, the implementation of the concept takes a long time, as it is necessary to get acquainted with the new technology and modify as well as exchange the implementation process. One reason for this can be that different subject-specific books describe different or expedient approaches for the implementation of the new technology which can make life easier in the future. This means taking another attempt, trying again the learning slowly. This learning curve is time-consuming and not always motivating.
The company Kemper from Nortrup had a different approach: In a workshop regarding the topic of UI5 which lasted a several days a team of developers from the company was taught the basics regarding UI5.
Keeping this in mind, the team (Peter Brockfeld and Marcel Kwaschny) started with the development of the first application. The implementation and the knowledge development is solely achieved by the customer. During the development process there is a weekly appointment for around two hours. During this period we answer and discuss questions of the past week, look at the coding to discuss which could be handled differently and what advantages this approach has. Additionally, we talk about questions regarding user experience and how to design the dialogues. The meeting comes to an end with an outlook regarding the plans for the upcoming week.
With this approach we often notice that we would have implemented it in the same way in the past and now implement it differently because of the experience we have gained over the past years. We pass on our knowledge so that the customer can orient himself and concentrate on the essential thing: The right implementation.